


Keep The Way Clear

by indigorose50



Series: Defies All Description [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route Spoilers, Forehead Kisses, Friendship, Gen, Nonbinary My Unit | Byleth, Post-Time Skip, top of head kiss actually but theres no tag for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26861596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigorose50/pseuds/indigorose50
Summary: Hubert's actions just after Lady Edelgard and the Professor emerge victorious at the end of a long, long war.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg & Hubert von Vestra
Series: Defies All Description [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959583
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Keep The Way Clear

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea around the same time as "Alone At The Helm" so I consider them companion pieces- but you do not have to have read that one to understand this. Just more of me having feels for these platonic soulmates ;;_;;

Fhirdiad was a burning mess even hours into the battle. The Strike Force was scattered. A call had gone out not long ago that Catherine had, at last, been defeated. The fight was on their side. 

Hubert dodged an arrow and threw out his final Death spell. It hit the sniper square in the chest, launching the body backward a few feet before it lay unmoving in a pile of rubble. With that enemy down, the path was clear for Lady Edelgard and the Professor to get to Rhea. 

It was surreal watching them march forward, both holding weapons that shone through the smoke, and knowing they were off to kill a god. Hubert believed wholeheartedly that they could do it. He just had to keep the way clear for them. It was his sworn duty. His life’s purpose. 

Pulling out a silver lance, Hubert led his battalion to block an oncoming golem. He kept an ear out for any sounds that the battle was no longer in their favor. One shout from the Professor, one cry from Edelgard, and Hubert would abandon his post without hesitation. It was impossible, however, to tell the sounds of the battlefield apart. More than once he glanced off in their direction, wondering how he would know if the tides had turned. 

He needn't have worried. 

The sound of Rhea— no — the Immaculate One falling in defeat could be heard for miles around. To Hubert, and the rest of the Black Eagle Strike Force, it was nothing short of deafening. A terrible roar, the whole of Fhirdiad shaking, Hubert stumbling as a great force pitched the earth under him—

Then silence. The silence was nearly as loud as all that had preceded it. 

Once the ground was stable once again, Hubert took off towards its source. He ran past allies and burnt buildings and slain enemies. He was injured from the battle, fatigued, nearly out of magic. He took a corner too fast and banged his shoulder on a crumbled wall. 

But he couldn’t find it in him to care. The war was over. The war that had taken half his lifetime to carry out, his and Lady Edelgard’s war,  _ thei _ r war was  _ over _ and he had to see it with his own eyes.

At last, Hubert burst onto the scorched battlefield. The corpse of the Immaculate One was a sight to behold. Such a magnificent, terrible creature— now laying too still. It was unreal. And yet, it  _ was _ . Hubert’s chest was heaving at this point, throat coated in ash and clothes singed, but he could not stop. If the Immaculate One was here, Lady Edelgard and the Professor had to be close. They had to be alright. Edelgard had to—

It only took a few more steps for him to catch sight of them. The Professor was laying on the ground, held up only by Lady Edelgard, their weapons forgotten beside them. Lady Edelgard was looking down at the professor with open relief. Strangely, the Professor’s hair was dark once again. The ethereal glow they had possessed since that day over five years ago had vanished. A rare smile lit their face instead as they wiped blood off Lady Edelgard’s cheek with their thumb.

Hubert stopped walking. Jealousy and joy swept through him in equal measure before he pushed away all feeling entirely. Of course— this was their victory. Without the Sword of the Creator, this fight may have gone very differently. Without Professor Byleth this war would not have been in their favor for even a moment.

As he always did, as he always should, Hubert stepped back into the shadows. He bowed his head and clasped his hands behind his back. House Vestra’s war was just beginning, after all. Let Lady Edelgard and the Professor have their moment of celebration. Hubert would not be the one to intrude. The end of this war, the end of the Church's centuries long iron grip on the continent; the Professor should be the one with the credit and therefore the victory. 

The clack of heels on pavement made Hubert’s head jerk up. Lady Edelgard was running through the smoldering fires towards him. He tensed, alert for whatever enemy she saw, perplexed that she had no visible weapon at hand.

Edelgard ran straight towards Hubert— then  _ into _ Hubert.

He caught her around the shoulders. Trembling arms wrapped around his middle; arms that had felled a dragon of myth, now holding him tightly as if he was the only thing keeping her upright. Long white hair had escaped her headpiece and flew around them as she came to a halt with her head buried in his chest.

Edelgard was shaking and Hubert didn’t think he was doing much better. He bowed his head to kiss the top of her head, hugging as tight as his weary arms would allow. Something wet was on his face and though Edelgard had let out a sob against him he doubted he could claim these tears were from her.

It didn’t matter. They might as well have been all alone in that burning city as Hubert stoked the back of Edelgard’s head, relishing the fact that she was whole and safe and here.

“You did it. Victory is yours,” he said into her hair, voice hoarse and meant for her ears alone.

Edelgard didn’t bother pulling away to answer. “Hubert, my dear friend, this was  _ our _ path. Together. This victory is yours as well.” Her words were said with amazement, edged with giddiness. “We did it. It’s… it’s over. It’s all over.  _ Hubert _ —”

“I know.”

She let out a chuckle and loosened her grip to look up at him. Tears were still pooling in her eyes, catching the firelight around them. “I suppose you do, don’t you?” 

In answer, he pressed his lips to the top of her head again. She let out a proper laugh and grabbed him once again, and his feet _ left the ground _ momentarily in her merriment. He held on, unable to resist joining in her laughter, both half hysterical and uncaring of whoever may be watching.

Of course, all was  _ not _ over. The fighting was done but if Edelgard’s world was to be fully realized, their work was about to increase tremendously— to say nothing of those who slither in the dark. 

But the Immaculate One was dead. The Professor was alive;  _ all _ the Black Eagles were alive. And as Edelgard lowered Hubert down to earth, grinning broadly and heedless of the sweat and tears still coursing down her face, Hubert decided not to point that out. Surely Lady Edelgard — wise, kind, powerful and brave — knew that anyway. So he pulled her into another embrace and let the celebration go on.

Let them relish in their victory. 

The end of their war. 


End file.
